Greyrest was no longer the weak, crumbling place Ethan had once arrived in. It had grown, stronger, louder, busier. The streets now echoed with hammers, boots, and voices giving commands. Even the air carried the sense of something bigger moving.
Everywhere Ethan walked, people were working. New walls were rising. Recruits trained in the dusty field. Spears were stacked like firewood. There was no peace anymore, only preparation.
Ethan stood atop the eastern wall just after dawn. He stared into the forest beyond. It looked calm. Too calm.
Reports had come in, missing birds, claw marks on trees, trails of blood without bodies. The kind of quiet that meant something was wrong.
"We've pushed back the last beast wave," he muttered to himself, "but this is just the calm before the next."
Behind him, the town moved like a machine. Builders, blacksmiths, guards, and scouts all doing their part. It felt like everyone understood that something was coming. Something darker. Something worse.
In the woods, Daisy trained daily under Weylin's watch. He rarely spoke more than five words at a time, but when he did, they stayed in her head.
"Move with the wind."
"Breathe between your steps."
"Strike, then vanish."
She learned quickly. She had no formal training, but she was fast, smart, and quiet. At first, her arrows missed their marks. Her fingers bled. Her stance was off. But she didn't complain. She simply trained again.
On the fourth day, Weylin set up a swinging pouch between two trees.
"Hit it in motion," he said.
Daisy narrowed her eyes and pulled back the string.
The arrow flew straight through the center.
It was repeated several times.
Weylin gave a short nod. "You're ready."
Meanwhile, in the forge, Lorana worked long after the sun went down. Sparks lit the walls as she hammered, shaped, and cooled metal. Weylin's blade was light, curved, and deadly. Daisy's knife was small and sharp enough to slip between ribs without being seen.
But Ethan wanted more than blades.
"These two fight in the shadows," he told Lorana one evening. "Steel armor won't work for them. It'll slow them down."
"Chainmail?" Lorana offered.
"Maybe," Ethan said. "But it has to be quiet. Light. Something special."
That night, Ethan returned to the Town Hall and wrote a letter by candlelight.
To: Baroness Elyra of Riverhelm
From: Ethan of Greyrest
Elyra,
Greyrest is preparing for another wave. I need someone with skill, someone who can craft armor that protects but doesn't slow. Light chainmail, reinforced leather, or something even better. This is not only for soldiers, but for two shadows: Weylin and Daisy.
They need to move like ghosts and still walk away from a blade.
If you trust someone with this kind of work, send them.
Quickly.
Ethan
At dawn, Ethan handed the sealed letter to one of the fastest riders in town.
"Take it straight to Riverhelm," he said. "Don't stop. Put this in Elyra's hands."
The rider nodded and took off down the road.
Later that morning, Ethan called a meeting in the Town Hall. Around the large wooden table stood Greyrest's most trusted, Torren, the drillmaster; Garren, the blacksmith; Lorana, the metalsmith; Mearve, the herbalist; Lina, the steward; and Weylin.
Daisy entered last, quiet as always.
Ethan rolled out a map of the surrounding region.
"Our scouts found tunnels in the forest," he began. "Old ones. Covered in moss, mostly hidden. Probably older than Greyrest itself."
"Natural or carved?" Lorana asked.
"Carved," Ethan said. "Stone walls. Carvings. Ancient."
"You think they're being used?" Torren asked.
"I do," Ethan nodded. "The Sable Order might be hiding there. Or worse, they might use them to bypass our walls."
"I'll go," Weylin said without hesitation.
"Not alone," Ethan said, turning to Daisy. "You're going too."
She nodded once.
"This isn't a fight," Ethan added. "It's a shadow mission. Get in, watch, listen, and return. No risks unless forced."
Everyone agreed.
That evening, just before sunset, Daisy and Weylin disappeared into the forest. No one saw them leave. No one heard a sound. It was as if the shadows swallowed them whole.
Back in Greyrest, Ethan walked through the streets. Fires were lit, children ate with their parents, guards rotated shifts. The town looked calm. But Ethan knew better.
He passed Garren, who was stacking finished spears along the armory wall.
"We're close to being fully stocked," Garren said.
"Good," Ethan replied. "We'll need it."
Ethan spent the night walking the perimeter, checking posts, talking to workers. He didn't sleep.
He stood once again on the wall, watching the treeline, when something behind him shifted. He felt it before he heard it.
He turned.
Daisy and Weylin were standing silently behind him, like ghosts appearing from the dark.
"We're back," Daisy said quietly.
Weylin added, "We found the tunnels."
Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Tell me everything."
They spoke quickly, twisting stone corridors, torchlight deep underground, at least a dozen armored men moving through the halls, and worst of all creatures.
"Not just beasts," Daisy said. "They were organized. Guarding something."
"Like they were expecting visitors," Weylin added.
Ethan folded his arms and stared into the night.
"They're planning something," he said. "And I won't let them strike first."
He called another late-night meeting. The map was updated, the tunnel location marked in red.
"We can't collapse them yet," Ethan said. "Too risky. We need more information. But now we know where they are. And who might be coming."
Mearve spoke up. "And the armor?"
"I've sent for help from Riverhelm," Ethan said. "If Elyra sends the right person, Daisy and Weylin will have the gear they need."
He turned to the two of them. "You've done well. Get some rest."
As they left the room, Lorana stepped forward.
"I can make something to hold them over," she said. "It won't be perfect, but it'll help."
"Do it," Ethan said.
The next morning, Daisy returned to the woods to train again, this time practicing with her new knife. Weylin tested how quietly he could draw his new blade from its sheath. Lorana began sketching a lighter chainmail pattern in the forge while waiting for Elyra's response.
Greyrest was ready in a way it hadn't been before. The walls were high, the weapons were sharp, and now, there were shadows who could move and strike before the enemy knew they were there.
The beast tide was returning.
The Sable Order was watching.
But Greyrest would not be caught off guard.
And when the enemy came, they wouldn't just face a town.
They would face ghosts.